Page 81 of True Sacrifice
“I thought you said Mor isn’t here,” Jasper asked, taking a seat on the ground as well. I leaned against a tree with my hands in my pockets.
“Sheila says she isn’t in the castle or any part of the village. Apparently, Sheila has a thing going on with the king, but it’s complicated. He was livid when I put my hands on her. So was the guard that escorted her in. Very juicy emotions in that room today.” Justice licked his lips.
“That doesn’t mean she isn’t being hidden by someone,” Jasper complained, picking up a small stick from the forest floor and lighting it aflame.
“We’re actually staying, because tomorrow one of the vampire princes will be here to meet about the mortal realm events. Clearly, the missing fliers have attracted too much attention. They were hoping the celestials hadn’t heard about it yet. Our arrival announced otherwise.” Justice put his finger on top of the flame, letting his skin bubble and char before retracting it.
“We’re planning on crashing the meeting then?” Jasper looked up excitedly, letting the flame extinguish.
“Naturally,” Justice said with a smile.
We all sat and fiddled with our powers, each our unique soothing habit. The loud crunch of sticks and leaves announced Sheila’s arrival. She wasn’t even attempting to be discreet. A second person came into view, and I recognized him as the guard that Justice said was also very protective of her. He was extremely fit, with a seemingly permanent scowl etched on his lightly bearded face. Sheila wore a grin.
“All good now. Al knows you’re here. He’s even set you up with a bedroom. Then we are going to sit down and have a serious talk about all of you being Mor’s mates. I will cut you, demon or not.” Sheila said, with her hands on her hips.
I could see how Sheila and Mor got along. She seemed to have even the King of the Fae under her thumb. Poor bastard. And this guard too, by the looks of it.
“What’s your name?” I nodded to the guard. At least I could tell Mor about Sheila’s life.
“Clay,” he grumbled out.
I laughed as Sheila scowled. I bet Mor would love this. The tension between the two of them was thick.
“Well, let’s get back to the castle so I can get something comfy on and threaten some demons,” Sheila said, spinning as she marched back toward the castle. We hadn’t gone too far away.
Sheila took us in a side entrance and then right up to the royal wing of the palace. Pillars opened out onto balconies covered in floral vines. The dark sky and all the bright stars were visible beyond the sheer white curtains that fluttered amongst the gentle breezes. Off in the distance, a bright light shot down from the sky, striking some part of the ground.
“Another vampire,” Sheila scoffed, rolling her eyes. “They’ve really been adding to their numbers lately. That’s why Al has taken the humans. They’re preparing for war, and so will we.”
From her stance to her tone, it was clear to see she considered herself fae at this point. I wondered how much longer before one of her suitors would convince her to take the immortal serum and turn her fae as well. She already spent too much time amongst them. If she didn’t turn, her soul would fracture.
“So, all three of you are demon princes mated to my Mor.” Sheila took on her business face.
“Yes, we are,” Jasper said, tipping his head a little.
Sheila seemed to evaluate each of us slowly. “You’re making sure she comes every time, right?”
Jasper coughed on what I can only guess was his own spit.
“Absolutely,” Justice grinned.
“You hurt her; I kill you. Simple enough,” Sheila said, as if that was all the more of a conversation that she needed to have.
“You really think you’re big and bad enough to take any of us on?” I glared at her.
“We’d find a way,” Clay grumbled. I don’t think they meant me to hear it.
“You hurt Sheila. I’ll kill you. That’s a promise easily delivered,”I purred inside Clay’s mind. I watched him flinch as the message came echoing in. It was cute to see Mor’s friend sticking up for her.
This meeting better give us some fucking answers.
CHAPTER33
JACE
It was just about time to get Mor and put her lead on. She had varied her responses over the past week, so no obvious pattern emerged. She was intelligent, I will give her that. And clever. Maybe she was a little funny as well. She learned to turn into shadow and minor compulsion. Most of that came with age, but she surprised me with as much as she could do for being so young.
The pre-dawns when she picked the lead were spent playing board games and talking by the fire. We would stay up to watch the sunrise from our cove and then I would expand the lead to give her enough leeway to move around her room while I stayed in mine. I think she just chose the lead some days to force me to spend time with her. Which is exactly what I didn’t do on spell days.
